Refrigerating apparatus



July 1, 1930. o. M. SUMMERS REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

Filed July 30, 1927 Patented July 1, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orFrcEOTTO M. SUMMERS, F DAYTON, OH IO, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 'TOFRIGID- AIRE CORPORATION, A GORFORATION OF DELAWARE REFRIGERATIN GAPPARATUS Application flled' July 30,

Thisinvention relates to mechanical household refrigerators andparticularly to devices for freezing blocks or cubes of ice for tableuse.-

It is among the objects of the present in- 7 vention to provide acontainer or tray for ice blocks which is convenient to handle and easyto fill, which freezesice uickly, and which facilitatesthe removal ovthe frozen 10 blocks.

It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved containerwhich is economical to manufacture.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a pre ferred form of embodiment of the presentinvention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an inverted ice tray constructed inaccordance with my invention; 1 Fig. 2 is a perspective view of such atray 2 right side up; and

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section thru an ice vtray in the freezingchamber of a mechanical household refrigerator.

In almost every mechanical household refrigerator in use at the presenttime, some provision is made for freezing cubes or blocks of ice fortable use. As shown in Fig.

: 3, in connection with the present invention,

this is usually in the form of a shallow pan or tray 10, which is placedin a support 11 in a freezing chamber 12 provided for that purpose inconnection with the evaporator or cooling unit 13 of the refrigeratingsystem. Such trays are usually subdivided into compartments or else areprovided with partitions, such as removable rids, for the purpose ofdefining the blocks 0 ice.

The previously known trays have not been entirely satisfactory becauseit is difficult to remove the ice blocksafter they are frozen. It hasusually been necessary to melt loose the entire contents of the tray,separate the desired number of blocks from the mass, and

"then replace the remainder. This is unsatisfactory and annoying.Attempts to solve this 1927. Serial No. 209,548.

problem have been made by freezing the blocks in cups arranged in racksso as to be individually removable. But this proposal has not met withsuccess because such arrangements froze ice slowly, because theyseriously reduced the ice capacity of the tray,

because it is tedious to fill a lot of little cups,

into compartments.

Each cup 16 is preferably drawn or stamped from a single thin sheet ofmetal, such as copper, and as shown in the drawings, each cup is roughlycubical, being more accurately described as the-frustum of a foursidedpyramid having rounded corners. The openends 17 ofthe cups arerectangular, or as nearly so as can be conveniently formed inmanufacturing. Any desired number of cups are assembled with their upperedges in contact, and are so secured together to form a unitary,partitioned container. Preferably the cups are placed within a'frame, or

band 18, flush with the top edges 17, and

while so assembled, the band and cups are dipped in molten solder, orother suitable bonding material, which effectively solders together theedges 17 of the cups and solders the group of cups into the frame.

' The frame '18 which holds the cups together may be of any formwhich'is suitable to manufacturingconditions and the vevaporatorwithwhich the apparatus is to be employed. Asshown for the sake ofillustration in the drawing this frame comprises a U-shaped member 18whose ends 18 are turned in to facilitate attachment to the plate 19which serves both as a handle and as a closure for the freezing chamberas is well known in the art.- Across member 18 is placed in the U- whichis subdivided into a partments by mutually transverse sets of holformedbetween the U-shaped member 18 and the cross member the desired numberof cups are placed. The dimensions of the cups and the frame are suchthat. the frame binds the cups quite firmly together and holds them inthis assembled. relation while they are being dipped in molten solder.

As is seen in Fig. 2, the corners of the upper edges of the cups are notperfectly square, but are rounded slightly. This is due to themanufacturing rocess, it being difficult and expensive to ma e cups withperfectly sharp corners. Each of the spaces between the corners may befilled with ahead of solder 19, after the dipping operation, in order tomake an imperforate container, in case the dipping operation does notfill the openings. Each cup may taper for its full depth so as tocontact with adjacent cups at the upper edges only, as shown in the lefthand portion of Fig. 3, or each c'up may have sides which are parallelfor a substantial distance down from the top, so that the cups will bein contact thruout a substantial portion of their height, as shown inthe right hand portion of the same figure. The former arrangementfacilitates removal of ice blocks by allowing hot waterto come incontact with a greater portion of the cups, while the latter arrangementconsiderably facilitates assemblage of the cups in the frame duringmanufacturing. Either arrangement reduces to a ne ligible quantity, thatis, to a thin edge, the'tgistanc'e between the tops of adjacent cups.'Consequently, in filling the'cups, all that is necessary is to pourwater into the group of cups. Due to the thin edges between cups, all ofsuch water must fall into the cups. None can run off between cups, andall water overflowing from any cup. except the outside ones,

must necessarily flow into adjacent cups. 7 No water can flow downbetween cups, and this minimizes the likelihood of getting water on thebottom or sides of the tray, which would cause it to freeze to' itssupport 11 in the freezin chamber. Dueto t eir tapering form, the cupsare separated from each other thruout a substantial portion of theirheight, and the bottom of the tra is thus subdivided by a number ofmutua transverse grooves, which, it will be note extend continuouslyacross the full length and breadth of the tray, and as has been noted,may-eitend substantiall the full thickness of the container, that is,rom bottom to top of the ice tray. I In other words, this form .ofvconstruction provides a tray p urality of comow-walls, and the wallshave sharp upper edges for deflecting into the compartments all waterwhich may be poured into the tray.

When it is desired to fill the tray, the

tipped slightly for an instant to equalize the level of the water in allthe cups, and to bring this level to the desired point. Excess waterflows off the side of the tray, can not get between cups, and is notlikely to get on the bottom of the tray in any appreciable quantity. Thetray may then'be placed in the freezing chamber without likelihood ofbein frozen to its support.

W an it is desired to remove one or more ice blocks from the tray, thelatter is inverted, as shown in F i 1 and "held under a warm waterfaucet. no to the particular conformation of the bottom of the tray, thewarm water may flow over any given block or group of blocks so as todislodge the blocks or group of blocks selected without disturbing theremaining blocks in the pan. For example, suppose it is desired toremove the block in cup 20 in Fig. 1. The cup 20 is held directly underthe faucet, and warm water flows over and entirely around this cup. Allfour walls of the cup being warmed, the block is immediately dislodged.The warm water flows ofi' thru the grooves between the other blocks, forinstance thru grooves 21, 22 and 23. This naturally can melt loose oneside of each of blocks and 31, sides 32 and 33 of block 34, sides 35 and36 of block 37 and sides 38 and 39 of block 40. But it will be noticedthat the pan can be held so that all the water runs off thru grooves 21,22 and 23. Therefore the sides not mentioned of blocks 30, 31, 34, 37and 40'willnot be melted away from the cups and these blocks willconsequently :remain frozen'in the tray. Likewise suppose it is desiredto remove an. entire group of blocks, such as 41, 42 and 43. In thiscase the row 41, 42 and 43 is passed back and forth under the warm waterfaucet so that the water flows entirely around each of the blocksmentioned. The water flows ofi thru the grooves between-the other blocksbut does not completely surround any other block. Thus all other blocksare left with one or more sides frozen to the cups and are consequentletained in osition. 7 Other groups, di erepnly arrange may be removed ina similar anner. This arrangement is of great advantage since it ermitsthe freezing of blocks of different. avors and colors at the same timein the same pan and permits the removal of any one or any group of suchflavors or colors without disturbing the re. maining blocks. a

' Another advantage resulting from construction is the rapidit withwhich the blocks may be frozen. Eac cup rests directly on the support 11in the freezing and is thus in good thermal contact with such support.Each block of ice is completely surrounded by metal conducting elementswhich are integral with each other and with the bottom which contactswith the support in the freezing chamber. This provides an excellentmultiple path for conducting the heat out of the water.

Y It has also been found that the form of ice tray shown is considerablycheaper to manufacture than the present conventional type of tray, thatis,'one having a removable grid which is placed within the pan. Thegrids have. proved to be particularly expensive to manufacture, andaltho it may not be self evident, it has been found from actual trialthat it is much more-economical to stam the individual cups and assemblethem in a ame than it is to manufacture a pan and a grid. While the formof embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutesa preferred form, it'is to be understood that other forms might beadopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A container for making a plurality of ice blocks'in householdrefrigerators having its under side divided into sections by mu tuallytransverse sets of continuous grooves of substantially the same depth,the grooves being adapted to receive warm water for disengaging the iceblocks and extending through the sides of the container to permit waterto drain from the grooves.

ice blocks in mechanical household refrigerators having mutuallytransverse partitions dividing the interior of the container intocompartments, the under side of the container being divided intosections corresponding to the compartments by grooves of substantiallythe same de th extendin con-'- tinuously across the un er side and trough the, sides of the container and adapted to receive warm water fordisengaging the blocks.

- 3. A container for making a plurality of ice blocks in mechanicalhousehold refriger ators having mutually transverse sets ofdouble-walled partitions extending from the bottom to the top of thecontainer and dividing the interior of the container into compartments.

, 4. A container for making a lurality of ice blocks in mechanicalhousehod refriger- 2. A container for making a plurality ofnature.

ators comprising a plurality of cups each adapted to make a block ofconvenient size for table use, said cups being joined at their open endsto form a partitioned container, and being separated at their closedends to permit passage of warm water around individual cups, whereb oneor more individual blocks of ice may e disenga ed from the containerwithout loosening e remaining blocks. a

6. A containerfor making a plurality of ice blocks inmechanicaLhonsehold refrigerators comprising a plurality of cups eachadapted to make ablock of convenient size for table use, said cups beingjoined at their open ends to form a partitioned container, and beingseparated at their closed ends to permit passage of warm water aroundindividual cups, the joints between the cups forming edges adapted todeflect into thecups all water poured into the container.

7. A container for making a plurality of I ice blocks in mechanicalhousehold refrigerators comprising a plurality of cups each adapted tomake a block of convenient size for table use, said cups being joined attheir open ends to form a partitioned container,

and being separated at their closed ends to permit passage of warm wateraround indi-- vidual cups, the spaces between the cups being closed andforming edges adapted to deflect into the cups all water poured into thecontainer.

I 8. A container for making a lurality of ice blocks-in mechanicalhouseho d refrigerators comprising in combination a U-shaped frame, across member between the arms of 1 the frame said arms extending beyondthe cross mem er,'a plurality of cups secured to each other and securedwithin the space between said cross member and the frame, and a handlesecured to theends of the arms.

9. A container for making a plurality of ice blocks in householdrefrigerators having its under side divided into sections by mu-' tuallytransverse sets of continuous grooves extendingsubstantially the fullheight of .the container, the grooves being adapted to receive warmwater for disengaging the ice blocks. p i

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my sigo'r'ro M. SUMMERS.

ators having mutually transverse sets of double-walled partitionsdividing the interior of the container into compartments, the

under side of'the container having grooves 6 ice blocks in mechanicalhousehold'refrigerof substantially the same depth extending-

